Street-railway switch.



N0- 826,084. PATENTED JULY 17, 1906. 4

H. BLANOHARD. Y STREET RAILWAY SWITCH.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.4. n05.-

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WTNE I 1 m a v v I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

STREET-RAILWAY I SWITCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 17, 1906.

Application filed August 4. 1905. Serial No. 272,692.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HoRAoE BLANGHARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Street-Railway Switches and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to an improvement in street-railway switches.

In the patent granted to me October 25, 1904, No. 772,998, there is illustrated and described a street-railway switch provided with an upwardly-projecting detent to hold the switch-point upon the one side or the other of the flange-groove. This detent is described as being made either integral with the bed-plate or a separate part screwed into a hole bored in the bed-plate.

In many street-railway switches the castings which receive the rail ends are now made of steel so hard that it cannot be bored. While the construction of my said patent lends itself to use in new work of this character and in connection with old work where the material of the switch-casting is cast-iron or other borable material, the use of hard steel forbids its use except in cases where the detent is made integral with the casting. It is frequently desirable, however, to provide existin hard-steel switches with a point-holding device, and to meet this demand I have produced a construction in which a detentplate provided with a detent to hold the switch on either side thereof is located in the flange-groove of the casting.

The present invention consists in the im provement in street-railway switches, hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating the invention, Figure 1 is a plan view of the switch. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of the same on the line 2 2, Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional elevation of the same on line 3 3, Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is a similar transverse sectional elevation illustrating a modification.

The switch-casting 1, provided with a tongue 2, is of the ordinary form except that the under side of the tongue 2'is recessed at 3 to afford a space to receive the plate 4, provided upon its upper surface with the detent 5. The detent 5 may be made integral with the plate 4, as shown in Fig. 3, or screwed into a screw-threaded hole therein, as shown in Fig. 4, or otherwise secured thereto. The recess 3 in the under side of the switch-point 2 corresponds in depth to the thickness of the plate 4 and is adapted to move freely over said plate. The detent 5 ,.however, constitutes an impediment to such movement and operates to hold the switch-point upon the one or the other side thereof, so as to hold the switch in either its open or its closed position without liability of accidental displacement. It is preferred that the plate 4 be secured in the casting A by being hard soldered in position, and while it is regarded that this is the best embodiment of the invention, because of the exclusion of liability of displacement and the prevention of the working of dirt thereunder, still it is considered that a construction in which the plate is not secured in position is within the scope of the invention. It will be observed that the detentplate, even if not otherwise secured, is held from displacement by the switch-point, being prevented from moving lon itudinally of the rail by the recess in the un er side of the switch-point and being prevented from moving laterally by the walls of the flange-groove of the casting.

In the preferred form of the invention the point is provided with a recess to provide room for the detent-plate; but the invention is not limited to such construction, as it will be understood that it is within the contemplation of the invention to locate the detentplate below the level of the bottom of the switch-point, as by grinding a recess in the bottom of the flange-groove of the switchcasting.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is- 1. A street-railway switch comprising a switch-casting provided with a flange-groove, a switch-point locatedin the fiangeroove and a detent-plate located in the angegroove of the casting and provided with a centrally-located detent adapted to engage and hold the switch-point upon the one or the other side thereof, substantially as described.

2. A street-railwa switch comprising a switch-casting provi ed with a flange-groove, a switch-point located in the flange-groove provided upon its under side with a recess and a detent-plate located in the flangegroove of the casting and within the recess in the switch-point provided with a centrallyportion of the lock or detent being thicker located detent adapted to engage and hold than the side portions. 10 the switch-point upon the one or the other In testimony whereof I affix my signature side thereof, substantially as described. in presence of two Witnesses.

3. The combination with a tongue-switch, HORACE BLANCHARD. of a removable detent or look fitted in the re- Witnesses: cess and extending between the side Walls of HORACE VAN EVEREN,

said recess and under the tongue, the central ANNIE C. RICHARDSON. 

